Navy Vet Charity Scammer Sentenced To 28 Years

John Donald Cody, the man who as "Bobby Thompson" ran the sham U.S. Navy Veterans Association, was sentenced on Monday to 28 years in prison, according to ABC News.

Cody spoke briefly in an Ohio courtroom before hearing his sentence, which included a fine of more than $6 million.

Cody's fake charity raised $100 million over the years, and enabled him to hobnob with top Republican politicians, before the scheme was sniffed out. Cody then spent two years as a fugitive. U.S. Marshals finally caught up with him in Oregon. Only after his arrest did authorities determine that "Thompson" was really Cody, a 1972 graduate of Harvard Law School, a former military intelligence officer, and a man who had been wanted by the FBI since the late 1980s.

At his sentencing on Monday, Cody still maintained that he was really Thompson.

“I understand what the court is doing by referring to me as Mr. Cody,” he said. “Bobby Charles Thompson is my name.”